"But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into Heaven?" (that is to bring Christ down from above)
or, " 'Who will descend into the Abyss?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:6-9 (NKJV)
If you need to find something, you have to look for it, but where would you look? What if someone told you that you had to climb a mountain to get what you needed, but they were not telling you the truth, and maybe you actually already had what you needed? What if someone knew about what you needed and they had already brought you that thing and placed it in your home? Then how hard would it be for you to get that thing? It would not be hard at all, of course, because that thing you need is right there with you.
It is unfortunate that many believers today have the mistaken idea that taking advantage of everything that God has done for them in Christ is extremely difficult. If you listen to some Christians, it is almost like God is trying to make it hard to take hold of what has been made available to us because of Jesus. But God is not trying to make things difficult for His children; everything that He has provided for us through Jesus is something He wants us to have and take advantage of.
What we need is not up in heaven, under the earth somewhere, or in some distant land that is impossible to get to. Salvation, for example, is not based on our performing some difficult task; we believe in what Jesus did, we confess that with our mouth, and we are saved. This is the same way we take advantage of everything that God has provided for us through Jesus. Don't make things harder than they have to be. Learn what belongs to you in Christ, lay hold of it by faith, and live in that reality.
or, " 'Who will descend into the Abyss?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:6-9 (NKJV)
If you need to find something, you have to look for it, but where would you look? What if someone told you that you had to climb a mountain to get what you needed, but they were not telling you the truth, and maybe you actually already had what you needed? What if someone knew about what you needed and they had already brought you that thing and placed it in your home? Then how hard would it be for you to get that thing? It would not be hard at all, of course, because that thing you need is right there with you.
It is unfortunate that many believers today have the mistaken idea that taking advantage of everything that God has done for them in Christ is extremely difficult. If you listen to some Christians, it is almost like God is trying to make it hard to take hold of what has been made available to us because of Jesus. But God is not trying to make things difficult for His children; everything that He has provided for us through Jesus is something He wants us to have and take advantage of.
What we need is not up in heaven, under the earth somewhere, or in some distant land that is impossible to get to. Salvation, for example, is not based on our performing some difficult task; we believe in what Jesus did, we confess that with our mouth, and we are saved. This is the same way we take advantage of everything that God has provided for us through Jesus. Don't make things harder than they have to be. Learn what belongs to you in Christ, lay hold of it by faith, and live in that reality.